ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.374.4561 is out

[Trentelshark]

Different router. People are talking about the RT-AC68U, while you have an RT-AC66U.

While I am also on the RT-AC66U, thought I would post this after reading through this thread. Perhaps it will help with the troubleshooting perhaps not. Since moving from 3.0.0.4.374.2050 to 3.0.0.4.374.4422 or 3.0.0.4.374.4561 on an RT-AC66U, the same thing happens with that router as well.

On the 2050 I had days upon days of uptime and upgraded to patch the security holes. On both updated FW versions it can reboot 3, 4 or 5 times a day, maybe more. Since reverting to 2050 it has been better thus far, but even last night it rebooted for seemingly no reason but only once, substantial improvement, still not perfect. In any case, I am going to attempt a factory reset tonight or tomorrow and see if that helps on both 2050 and 4561.

I saw mention in this thread of Apple devices, here's what's on my network. As you can tell, there is a good number of Apple devices:

Wired:

1) X-Box One
2) IPTV VBox
3) Smart Home Theatre
4) Apple TV

Wireless:

1) 2x iPhone (one 4, one 4s)
2) 1x iPad 3
3) Older macbook (g/f knows the model I don't)
4) Work laptop when required (Dell)
5) Occasionally my BB Z10 for work but very minimal

There seems to be no pattern to when it occurs. The logs have no consistency between reboots, though I do see some reports of unsupported NAT-PMP version which I need to look into. Not sure which device is generating this at this point. I will be removing everything from the wireless network short of the Macbook this evening to see how that plays out. Driving me nuts to say the least .

 

[speedingcheetah]

Is Apple devices the common factor here? That would be funny if they were causing the issues...

Though, I thought I saw some posts buried in all these pages of folks without Apple devices that have had the reboot issue.

 

[whitey019]

I had reboot issues with 4561 and this is a non-Apple household.

 

[SkyPanther]

Has Asus replied with any official response yet? I doubt this is a "router" problem, if it seems to only happen after an update to the most recent version.

Are there more than one hardware revisions of the router out? Could it be that the newer revision does not have this issue, but the older one does?

 

[5994fps]

Is Apple devices the common factor here?

No Apple devices for me. I have -:

3 x Desktop Win8.1 PCs (1 wired, 2 wireless (PCE-AC68, USB-AC56)
1 x Windows 8.1 Ultrabook (Intel wireless)
1 x Windows 8 Phone
1 x Samsung Galaxy S3 Android phone
1 x Xbox One (wireless)

Does anybody else own an Asus USB-AC56 and have trouble connecting and reconnecting?

 

[RMerlin]

There seems to be no pattern to when it occurs. The logs have no consistency between reboots, though I do see some reports of unsupported NAT-PMP version which I need to look into.

This is Apple sending NAT-PMP requests with a version field set to 2, which according to the NAT-PMP specifications is wrong - that field should be set to 0. This is just Apple not following the specs. Might be a side-effect of them supporting PCP in addition to NAT-PMP.

In any case, you can safely ignore those warnings.

 

[StG4Ever]

Lots of apple devices here but also NAS, TV, XBOX, windows, android devices.

Almost 5 days of stability here so far on alpha 4. On higher builds or the new official build it would reboot at least several times per day.

 

[rtcomputersinc]

Has anyone tried removing the antennas to test if the wireless device problem or just a random router reboot? it may pick up a device really close to router but should kill off everything wireless.

I have 2 houses on mine and cant try this. You would read about my death in the papers the 3 year old can get pretty cranky and I think she owns a knife. Just saying.

 

[L&LD]

Not a good idea to remove antenna and use the continue to use the router with the radio's on.

Could burn out the unit.

 

[Trentelshark]

This is Apple sending NAT-PMP requests with a version field set to 2, which according to the NAT-PMP specifications is wrong - that field should be set to 0. This is just Apple not following the specs. Might be a side-effect of them supporting PCP in addition to NAT-PMP.

In any case, you can safely ignore those warnings.

Thanks, one less thing for me to look into. I poured over logs last night of previous reboots and keep coming up blank. As of last night, approximately 11pm EST last time I checked, I did not have a single disconnect/reboot in 28 hours on 3.0.0.4.374.2050. So definitely looks to be the same thing plaguing the 66 and the 68 on the same level of the latest firmware (not surprising).

 

[TSloper]

Merlin,

Is the UART easily accesible on the router? I have a TTL to USB cable (I'm a processor FAE for TI). I went 10 days on the latest FW before a reboot so I don't know when the next even will occur but I can set it up to log continually and see if I can capture the next event.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[KGB7]

Not a good idea to remove antenna and use the continue to use the router with the radio's on.

Could burn out the unit.

Ahhh.....Ookkk...

 

[jjhowey]

Merlin,

Is the UART easily accesible on the router? I have a TTL to USB cable (I'm a processor FAE for TI).

See Merlin's earlier reply here ......:

There's a TTL serial header on the pcboard inside the router that's used for debugging.

Check the photos I posted in this thread showing my RT-N66U being hooked over serial while debugging firmware code on it.

(typing this part for buggy 10 character limit)

 

[TSloper]

Thanks. I'll hook it up tonight.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin,

Is the UART easily accesible on the router? I have a TTL to USB cable (I'm a processor FAE for TI). I went 10 days on the latest FW before a reboot so I don't know when the next even will occur but I can set it up to log continually and see if I can capture the next event.

If you do capture anything of interest please send it to me, and I'll forward it to Asus.

 

[angelsevov]

Merlin on your build RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.40_beta1 Regulation mode is not working anymore, choosing 802.11d it reverts itself back to OFF.
This will save our lives here in EU (in my case in sweden) with DFS channels and will eliminate stupid Apples EU regulation thing. Now router operates on wl country DE (DE/13) GERMANY, and works perfect but when my MacBook Pro is waking up it looks around for an 802.11d beacon. And as you know this beacon can come from any wireless access point nearby and not just my access point (in this case my neighbours' access point). Once it has found a beacon it simply sets the supported channels in the hardware to match it. The problem is my neighbours have their APs set to the EU (or maybe they don't know that that is it) and my macbook deactivates all DFS channels. Is there any plan to fix this auto OFF thing?

 

[AC68User]

New user of RT-AC68U
- upgraded during installation to 4561

pretty regular random reboot, 6-10 a day which was distressing
(old netgear router never crashed, upgraded to this for the range)

wired
PC

wireless (mix of 2.4 and 5 -- separate SSID)
5 Apple 5S
iPad2
iPadMini
Xbox 360
windows laptop
blackberry bold
macbook

downgraded to .583 worked without reboot for 4 days
- but then network became ridiculously slow
- had to reboot to fix that ... now fast again

seems like huge step backward from my old functioning router
- considering going back until some new firmware is usable on this device

 

[whsbuss]

New user of RT-AC68U
- upgraded during installation to 4561

pretty regular random reboot, 6-10 a day which was distressing
(old netgear router never crashed, upgraded to this for the range)

wired
PC

wireless (mix of 2.4 and 5 -- separate SSID)
5 Apple 5S
iPad2
iPadMini
Xbox 360
windows laptop
blackberry bold
macbook

downgraded to .583 worked without reboot for 4 days
- but then network became ridiculously slow
- had to reboot to fix that ... now fast again

seems like huge step backward from my old functioning router
- considering going back until some new firmware is usable on this device

Been running .583 for weeks now without any issues (in AP mode).

 

[CoolDuckie]

Is Apple devices the common factor here? That would be funny if they were causing the issues...

Though, I thought I saw some posts buried in all these pages of folks without Apple devices that have had the reboot issue.

Three iPhones, iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad 4, two Mac Mini, latest generation, two Airplay devices (B&W A7 and a Netgear N adaptor with a Denon Receiver), one Macbook Pro Retina 15 inch (Ivy Bridge version) and one Macbook pro regular 13 inch version.

Plenty reboots (several a day).

CD

 

[SkyPanther]

Was playing on the PS3 yesterday(Rocksmith 2014), and my roommate was on his iPhone 4. Had multiple reboots the whole time(about 5 reboots in a 3 hour timeframe).

There was no one else using the router, both the PS3 and iPhone were on the 2.4ghz band.

I am using AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.40_beta1 for the firmware. When I use AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.40_alpha4, or AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.39_0 the resets go away.